In 2005, during a trip to the Sudan, Giancarlo Negro, Stefano Pirola and Tino Sacchi reached the Merga oasis (Nukheila), stumbling upon an aircraft wreck: a twelve-cylinder engine, a metallic twin-blade propeller, a fuel tank and parts of the fuselage structure lay upon the sand. The big propeller, seemingly undamaged, and the powerful engine stirred the curiosity of the three travellers who, upon returning to Italy, tried to reconstruct the story of the poor aircraft. Their research did not yield any result, until I got news myself of the wreck a few years later. In the meantime, it became known that the wreck had also been visited by Stefan Kröpelin in the recent past (1986) during one of his trips to the Sudan for the Berlin University.

Il relitto nel 2005 | The wreck in 2005 (Giancarlo Negro)

Da sinistra il serbatoio, l'elica ed il motore | From the left the fuel tank, the propeller and the engine (Giancarlo Negro)

The Napier Lion XIA engine, coupled to the Reed propeller, equipped the foremost British aircraft in overseas use during the Thirties, that is the Fairey IIIF biplane. The shape of the fuel tank and of part of the remaining fuselage structure confirmed beyond any doubt my identification. On the propeller there was also stamped a serial number and the date of manufacture; a lower limit was therefore available for the date of the crash, which could not have happened before September, 1929.

This wreck, "rediscovered" in 2005, was actually quite known in the Thirties. It was mentioned in 1933 by Ralph A. Bagnold, in his Geographical Journal article A Further Journey Through the Libyan Desert:

[...] pieces of Shell petrol tins, pieces of a British R.A.F. aeroplane which crashed at Merga in 1930

Later, in 1935, László E. Almásy positioned it as a "burnt aeroplane" placemark on the map included with his "Bir Bidi" published in Vol. XVIII of Sudan Notes and Records.

The Note on Reconnaissance to Bir Natrun and Merga by No. 2 Motor Machine Gun Battery and Aicraft of 47 (B) Squadron Royal Air Force, describing the joint Royal Air Force/Sudan Defence Force exercise of November 1931, already mentioned the existence of an aircraft wreck in the oasis:

[...] across the salt pan where the aeroplane was lost in 1930

By coincidence the main British aircraft publication of the time, Flight, indirectly mentioned the wreck by reporting about a conference on aeronautical matters. in 1934 Col. B.T. Wilson, former Chief Staff Officer of the Sudan Defence Force between 1929 and 1933, read a paper on "The Sudan of Today" before the Royal United Service Institution, in which he described the work of No. 47 (Bomber) Squadron, praising the use of the Fairey "Gordon" in service there. On that occasion Col. Wilson recalled an accident which occurred to one of these aeroplanes precisely in Merga, even showing a slide of the crashed aircraft, taken immediately after the event.

It was then clear that it must have been the aeroplane whose remains were still visible in 2005. However, Col. Wilson mentioned a "Gordon", which didn't fit. But the "Gordon" was actually a IIIF with a radial engine, and it also was the aircraft which in 1934 equipped the whole of No. 47 Squadron (after replacing the IIIF), which made a simple oversight by the Officer the most likely explanation.

A long search in the diaries of the Khartoum-based RAF unit was then necessary to find out notice of the accident. Quite surprisingly, in the monthly reports which were duly drawn up and are now kept at The National Archives in Kew, no mention existed of an aircraft lost in Merga. There was notice, though, of a joint RAF/SDF mission taking place also in that area in September, 1930, with a reference to a report that was supposed to have been written after the end of the mission. Such a document was unfortunately missing from the monthly reports, and further research was necessary to find - if it still existed - the paper that could shed some light upon the accident. After much time, I was able to find an entry in the TNA catalogue referring to some "reconnaissance in the Libyan Desert west of Dongola", with photographs: this must have been it, and among the pictures, I was sure to find the slide shown at the 1934 lecture by Col. Wilson.

When I finally got hold of a copy of the papers, I found out I had been right all along: the Merga wreck belonged to the Fairey IIIF Mark IV (G.P.) serial J9802 from No. 47 Squadron RAF, flown by F/Lt A. P. Ritchie, the Commanding Officer of the RAF detachment during the September 1930 exercise. Purpose of the mission was the reconnaissance of the area, at that time infested by Guraan raiders, to establish support points and tactics to employ should a military showdown prove necessary against the marauding tribe. An SDF detachment on the ground with lorries took part in the mission, along with a detachment of No. 47 Squadron RAF in flight (with two Fairey IIIFs). It was planned for the ground detachment troops to locate a suitable landing ground each day, before setting up camp for the night, to allow the aeroplanes to land and leave again the following day to carry on the mission. Such a procedure proved very good but unfortunately, on 25 September 1930, after reaching Merga, the landing ground proved treacherous: what had looked like firm ground actually was a wide patch of soft sand, unable to withstand the weight of the aircraft. F/Lt. Ritchie landed first, ending up stuck in the sand and almost turning over, without injuries and slightly damaging the propeller, with a blade bent by a few inches.

Most unfortunately it was impossible for the aeroplane to take off from that place and any attempt to move it was also impossible: not even the lorries could approach it, for they immediately got stuck in the sand themselves. Unbelievably the only solution seemed to be to dismantle the aircraft in parts which could be carried by two men, and to rebuild it on firm ground. As such an operation was unfeasible for its complexity and the lack of time, with limited water and food supplies, it was decided to abandon the aeroplane in place and burn it, after dismantling some valuable parts small enought to be carried on the lorries, which were already overloaded with the supplies for the mission.

The unfortunate Fairey lies there since 27 September 1930, a desert landmark for generations of explorers.

The author wishes to thank Paul McMillan, Ian Chard, Kuno Gross, Andras Zboray and Stefan Kröpelin for their help and for the documents they provided during the research.